Rueterberg
Coordinates: 53 ° 9 ' N , 11 ° 11' E
Rüterberg (until 1938 Wendisch Wehningen ) is a district of the city of Dömitz in the southwest of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . The community became known through the status of the village republic of Rüterberg , which its citizens proclaimed in 1989 . From 1991 to 2001 the former community was officially called Rüterberg ("Village Republic" 1961 - 1989) , subsequently Rüterberg ("Village Republic" 1967 - 1989) until 2002 .
location
The between Dömitz and Hitzacker on the Elbe village lying is located in the UNESCO - Biosphere Reserve Riverine Landscape Elbe-Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , on and around the Rüterberg. The place borders on the federal state Lower Saxony on two sides . At the time of the division of Germany, it was surrounded by barriers for 22 years due to the regulations of the GDR border security. It was separated from the Federal Republic of Germany by a fence system along the Elbe.
history
The place originally called Wendisch Wehningen was first mentioned in 1340. In 1896 and 1903 two brickworks were built at the Ostend. In 1938, in the course of the National Socialist Germanization of place names , the municipality was renamed Rüterberg and did not get its original name back even after the war. At the end of the Second World War, Rüterberg , located in the Soviet zone of occupation, became a border village to the British zone of occupation . Since 1952, measures have been taken to secure the borders, including setting up a restricted zone , introducing the requirement for a pass and erecting a border fence along the banks of the Elbe. In the course of the " Ungeziefer " campaign, several families were forced to move into the hinterland. In 1961, as part of the “ Aktion Festigung ”, 26 properties were leveled and the border fortifications on the banks of the Elbe were fortified.
In 1966 the Battle of Gorleben took place , in which the Federal Republic of Germany and British armed forces demonstrated the western claim to sovereignty over the full width of the Elbe . The GDR, on the other hand, insisted on its position that the inner-German border ran in the middle of the river. Subsequently, in 1967, a second - inner - border fence was erected along the Elbe and thus around Rüterberg. This cut off the village itself from the GDR territory. Residents could only enter or leave their village through a guarded gate after presenting their pass. Visitors could not be received. It was not possible to pass during the night between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The district of Broda and with it two brickworks and a sawmill were demolished in 1981. Only an observation object of the border troops remained . In 1988 the inner border fence was stabilized for eleven million marks . A man used this construction work to escape from the GDR . As a result, tripwires and dog runs were set up. The population of Rüterberg fell from about 300 to 150 between 1961 and 1989.
Rüterberg village republic
As a protest against the situation resulting from the isolation, the residents proclaimed the village republic of Rüterberg on November 8, 1989, in order to set an example against the years of humiliation by the GDR. The father of the idea of a village republic, based on the example of the original Swiss cantons , is considered to be master tailor Hans Rasenberger, who had already dealt with the history of Switzerland and the local village communities for years . When he was allowed to visit relatives in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1988, he took the opportunity to travel between the Federal Republic, Switzerland and France and heard the Rütli oath during the celebrations for Switzerland's national holiday .
Rasenberger had requested a residents' meeting on October 24, 1989, which, according to the regulations, was reported to the Ministry for State Security in Berlin. The meeting was approved for November 8th. In addition to 90 residents, representatives from the Ludwigslust District Council , a senior officer of the border troops and the head of the People's Police District Office were present in the parish hall , to whom a document carefully prepared by Rasenberger was presented, in which it was a matter of adopting its own laws in a village republic create and no longer allow the GDR leadership to patronize them. The residents decided unanimously to establish the village republic. The Berlin Wall fell just one day later and Rüterberg had been freely accessible since November 10, 1989.
On July 14, 1991, the municipality of Rüterberg received the right from the Minister of the Interior of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to use the designation “Village Republic 1961–1989” (from 2001 “Village Republic 1967–1989”) as an addition to all town signs. 100 young people from 19 nations were present at the act of state recognition, the award of the certificate. The regulation was in effect until October 21, 2002 - since then the village has been called Rüterberg again.
Trabant in front of information signs, 1990
Envelope with postmark of the village republic
Hans Rasenberger with a flag
Post-turnaround time
After the fall of the Wall there were new settlements, new streets and houses were built. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of the village republic, a Heimatstube was opened in 1999, which gives visitors, among other things, insights into life in the isolated border village. In the same year, the Mecklenburg Elbe Valley Nature Park Administration handed over a wooden observation tower with a view of the Elbe valley. On June 13, 2004 Rüterberg was incorporated into the city of Dömitz.
politics
coat of arms
Until the day of incorporation, the former municipality of Rüterberg had a coat of arms and a flag, which are described as follows:
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Blazon : “In green on a golden hill, in it a blue wavy thread, a golden armored knight with a stinging helmet, on a jumping, golden hoofed, bridled and saddled silver horse, in his right hand a golden sword and in his left hand holding the golden reins . "
The coat of arms and the flag were designed by Michael Zapfe from Weimar . It was approved together with the flag on August 19, 2003 by the Ministry of the Interior and registered under the number 285 of the coat of arms of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. |
| Justification of the coat of arms: As early as 1990, the municipality had spoken out in favor of a design of coat of arms, which included a standing, shield-holding knight in front of a mountain above a four-fold corrugated shield base. However, this was not approvable in terms of both the design and the symbolism, especially since the term Rüter refers to a rider according to the "Mecklenburg Dictionary" by Wossidlo-Teuchert. In the national emblem, the main symbol, the knight on horseback, and the hill (mountain) as a speaking symbol, the visual reference to the place name is established. The wave thread is intended to refer to the location of the former municipality on the Elbe. When it was incorporated into the city of Dömitz on June 13, 2004, the municipal coat of arms lost its status as a national emblem. However, it can still be used by the residents as an identification symbol and as a sign of solidarity with their place. |
In addition, there is a coat of arms draft created by Detlev Rasenberger, a son of Hans Rasenberger, in 1980, which is described as follows: “Above a silver wave shield base, in it two blue wavy lines, in silver a green mountain topped with a silver knight, who in his right hand one upwards A pointed sword and in the left a shield with the colors blue, gold and red, divided twice, one above the other (carries). ”Above the coat of arms are the village republic (in Super Grotesk font ) and Rüterberg (fat Gothic) one above the other.
The knight depicted in the coat of arms is said to have once jumped over the Elbe from Rüterberg with his horse in order to free Rüterberg from robbers.
flag
The flag is evenly striped lengthways with blue, yellow and green. In the middle of the yellow stripe, at two fifths of the height of the blue and green stripes, is the coat of arms of the district. The length of the flag is related to the height as 5: 3.
Personalities
- Hartmuth Behrens (* 1951), former foil fencer, was born in Rüterberg.
literature
- Hans Rasenberger: The village republic. From the history of the Elbe border village Wendisch Wehningen-Broda, Rüterberg-Dorfrepublik 1967–1989 . H. Rasenberg, around 1990.
- Johann Friedrich Burmester , contributions to the church history of the Duchy of Lauenburg , p.221 Wehningen
Web links
- Literature about Rüterberg in the state bibliography MV
- "10 years of the Rüterberg village republic" by Andreas Herzfeld
- Goodbye GDR: Rüterberg becomes a village republic - Report on NDR Online ( Memento from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ Area changes , State Statistical Office MV
- ↑ Municipal directory 1900
- ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. ludwigslust.html. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
- ^ Dömitz district: Rüterberg - Formerly the village republic of Rüterberg
- ^ StBA: Changes in the municipalities in Germany, see 2004
- ↑ a b Hans-Heinz Schütt: On shield and flag - the coats of arms and flags of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and its municipalities . Ed .: production office TINUS; Schwerin. 2011, ISBN 978-3-9814380-0-0 , pp. 445/446 .
- ↑ a b "10 Years of the Rüterberg Village Republic" by Andreas Herzfeld on flaggenkunde.de
Districts: Dömitz | Groß Schmölen | Heidhof | Klein Schmölen | Polz | Rueterberg
Living space: expansion